The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 3

LOCALNATION THE PANTAGRAPH, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 1994 A3 Clinton weathers storm, promotes economic plan By Knight-RidderTribune Service ft hi S'vJ The PartagraphSTEVE SMEDLEY The Normal Community Marching Ironmen threw flags high in the air during the Labor Day Parade on Monday as they walked west on Front Street in Bloomington. Other highlights of Labor Day 1994: I Tens of thousands of people in Michigan made the annual 5-mile walk on the Mackinac Bridge across the Straits of Mackinac. A handful of sign- waving protesters greeted Gov. John Engler.

The Michigan Education Association is angry at Engler for successfully pushing legi- -slation that curtails teach-; ers' collective bargaining rights and penalizes them; for striking. Representatives of more than 100 unions from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware marched In Philadelphia In the 7th annual regional Labor Day parade and family celebration. Organizers expected attendance to exceed last year's crowd of 7,000. Organizers of the Labor Day parade in New York City canceled their cete- bration. They declared that beginning next year the parade will be held every other year.

The size of the parade had dwindled in recent years. The 50 contestants for the Miss America crown arrived In Atlantic City, N.J.,', to begin preparing for the 74th annual pageant on Sept. 17. WEST CHOP, Mass. Faced with Labor Day temperatures in the low SOs, a driving rain and gale winds gusting to 50 mph, a sane man would no more go politicking than he would play golf.

Monday, Bill Clinton did both. Braving a genuine Nor'easter that was driving 10 and 20 foot waves against the New England coast, the president interrupted his Martha's Vineyard family holiday to fly up to Bath, Maine, and get the Democrats' fall congressional election campaign under way. In a speech to flag-waving shipyard workers, he urged voters to stick with the party that had brought the nation 4.1 million new jobs since he took office. Rallies for change "Our administration has fought for change against some very, very powerful enemies of change," he said of his Republican opponents. "People who don't know don't seem to understand what the stakes are." Invoking the name of another first-term underdog, Clinton said he'd reversed the tide of debt built up by the Republicans and has brought "the deficit down for three years in a row for the first time since Harry Truman was president" "For the first time in 10 years, manufacturing jobs in America have increased for eight months in a row," he said.

Two million new jobs have been added this year, he said, crediting economic programs passed against virtually unanimous Republican opposition. The president has seemed downcast and even grim at times during his vacation, but his brisk political outing to the 110-year-old Bath Iron Works shipyard appeared to invigorate him. He cheerfully worked into his speech a humorous plea for his stalled health care program, saying that if he didn't hasten to conclude his remarks while he and his audience stood in the driving rain, "health care costs are going to go up even more." The Bath Iron works, the nation's principal builder of destroyers since World War II, has a payroll Right, Bloomington policeman Craig Kurth wore a flag as he performed the thankless role of keeping children in check while they ran into the intersection of Lee and Front streets for tossed candy. Left, Lyle Estes of Danvers, the WJBC laborer of the year, waved as he passed along the parade route. -s "'J A of about 6,000 and is the state's largest employer.

It was announced over the weekend that his approval rating in one public opinion poll has fallen to 40 percent, the lowest of any modern president at this stage in his first term. His unpopularity has made many Democrats nervous about the fall congressional elections, with Maine's Democratic Senate seat held by retiring Majority Leader George Mitchell among those considered vulnerable. Flying back to his vacation island retreat on Martha's Vineyard, where the gale drove Air Force One into the kind of bouncing pmcuinrl lanHinff necnMatpH with UNIONS credit than they receive for improving the quality of life in a community. When unions win better wages and benefits, many nonunion workers also benefit, he said. "Regardless of what people do, they benefit from our struggles and what we earned in the past 75 years," he said.

"Labor Day just isn't a nice summer holiday. It's the way to show labor solidarity. And if one union has a problem, it should be everyone's problem." From A1 who works at the BridgestoneFirestone Off-Road Tire Co. in Normal and belongs to a union. "This parade is a great way for organized labor to get its point across to the public.

It shows our strength and the importance of labor in the community," he said. Gordon said unions deserve a lot more aircraft carriers, he then boldly set out on a round of golf "WE'VE STOOD THE TEST OF TIME" i 3 t- MOW 1 3gp- First Federal Savings' 75th Anniversary Customer Appreciation offers: i RECEIVE Free Calculator when you open a new checking account. I oaaaao oaaaao loaooao JflSMMKO noaaa Free Clock Radio when you buy a 1 ,000 CD or deposit $1 ,000 into an existing CD Free Quartz Watch with a leather strap when you buy a $5,000 CD or deposit $5,000 into an existing CD. The PantagrsphSTEVE SMEDLEY Free Quartz Watch with a gold band when you buy a Tj $10,000 CD or deposit $10,000 into an existing CD. Dave Besler, president of First State Bank, 204 N.

Prospect Road, Bloomington, worked on raising pledges Monday while incarcerated at Ride The Nines, 503 N. Prospect Road, the site of the local effort for the 22-hour Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Telethon raises record $47.1 million 75th Anniversary Certificate 7.50apy6 Years SEE US FOR OTHER HIGH-RATE INVESTMENTS 1 00 minimum balance, limited time offering, penalty for early withdrawal. LAS VEGAS (AP) Jerry Lewis used celebrities and touching stories from people with muscular dystrophy to coax a record $47.1 million from viewers of his 29th annual Labor Day telethon. Lewis' goal, as always, was to raise a dollar more than the previous telethon.

Last year's take was $46 million. Corporate sponsors gave Lewis checks for $36.4 million in addition to the TV viewers' $47.1 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The telethon began Sunday night and was broadcast live from the Sahara Hotel and sites in New York, Hollywood and Branson, Mo. Lewis, 68, kicked off the event by praising MDA researchers and saying scientists at MDA-funded clinics need more money to continue their work. "They have the key to the lock," Lewis said.

But Marta Russell of Los Angeles, a spokeswoman for Americans Disabled for Attendant Programs, said the MDA has "failed to find anything close to a cure." "Everyone should have what they need to function in society, without this pity-mongering that Jerry Lewis perpetuates year after year," Russell, who has cerebral palsy, said in a statement Students boost totals By Pantagraph staff With the help of 24 Twin City high school students, pledges remained strong yesterday for the annual Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon benefiting the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Canister collections jumped to $2,124, thanks to the $1,200 raised door-to-door by students from three local high schools. Telephone pledges totaled $9,557, lagging about $500 behind the previous year's total, according to Joe Barth, Bloomington-Normal pledge center coordinator. A lockup at the local pledge center. Ride the Nine in Bloomington, netted $6,000 about $1,000 more than last year.

Groups and organizations collected nearly $43,000 prior to the telethon. Money collected in Bloomington-Normal on Labor Day is reflected in the $283,958 tallied by WMBD-TV in Peoria. FIRST FEDERAL SAVINGS Main Office 301 Fairway Drive RO. Box 429 Bloomington, IL 61701 (309) 663-6345 LeRoy Office 207 S. East St.

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